By Ragiema Thokan-Mahomed, Legal, Ethics and Compliance Executive at
the South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA)
 
As announced in government gazette 37980 on 12 September 2014, the Justices of the Peace and Commissioners of Oaths Act No. 16 of 1963, Regulation No. 61B, recognises every Professional Accountant (SA) as an ex officio Commissioner of Oaths by virtue of their position of trust in society.

Says Ragiema Thokan-Mahomed, Legal, Ethics and Compliance Executive at the South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA): “The fiduciary duties of the title are few but their correct execution is essential to protecting the public interest and serving justice. They must, therefore, be treated with the same care and precision as the practitioner's professional services.”
A Commission of Oaths’ duties are twofold: administering oaths and certifying document copies. Readers can download SAIPA's Commissioner of Oaths Guide for more details, available at www.saipa.co.za/commissioner-oaths-guide.

Administering oaths
A person can make a statement or agree to make a statement which they formalise by swearing to its truthfulness before the Commissioner of Oaths. The Commissioner must be present to confirm the person’s identity, and their willingness and competence to make the declaration. The statement is reduced to writing and certified by the Commissioner as a record that it was indeed made in their presence.

Certifying document copies
Valuable documents are seldom transferred to third parties for processing for fear of them being lost or damaged. A Commissioner of Oaths can certify a copy of a document as a true copy, allowing it to be used instead of the original. The Commissioner must, therefore, inspect the original, never taking it on faith or accepting secondary evidence that it exists and is identical. If it was later discovered that there was a difference, this would be a serious breach that may carry legal consequences for the Commissioner of Oaths. “Regardless, SAIPA will discipline accountants found guilty of negligence in these duties to protect the Institute from disrepute,” says Thokan-Mahomed.

 Due care
The requirements of the above duties must be satisfied in all respects as even the slightest error or omission can render the process ineffective. In Absa Bank Ltd vs Botha NO and Others, an affidavit described a female defendant using alternating masculine and feminine terms. This contradictory identification called into question whether the Commissioner of Oaths had been present and therefore the validity of the affidavit. Inevitably, the court dismissed the case with costs payable by the plaintiff. “Sadly, the plaintiff likely had a strong case and suffered unnecessary loss. Whether the Commissioner of Oaths was held accountable is unknown but they were undoubtedly professionally embarrassed,” reports Thokan-Mahomed.

Unfortunately, similar incidents are common, involving both the administration of oaths and the certification of copies. In extreme cases, those involved in serious crimes may walk free. Additionally, a careless Commissioner of Oaths could be deemed complicit in a crime, for example, if they certify false copies later used in fraud.
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Professional conduct
“SAIPA members acting as a Commissioner of Oaths continue to be ambassadors and must conduct themselves with the same professionalism and trustworthiness befitting their designation,” concludes Thokan-Mahomed.

ENDS
 
MEDIA CONTACT: Stephné du Toit, 084 587 9933, stephne@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za 
For more information on SAIPA please visit:
Website: www.saipa.co.za
Twitter: @SAIPAcomms
LinkedIn: South African institute of Professional Accountants Company
Facebook: South African Institute of Professional Accountants
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There’s been much talk in the press about the robotisation of accounting and how artificial intelligence (AI) will inevitably make professional accountants obsolete. According to Faith Ngwenya, Technical and Standards Executive at the South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA), it’s not that simple. “Professional accounting organisations like IFAC and SAIPA are closely monitoring the impact of AI-driven systems on the industry,” she says. “While some bookkeeping and reporting functions may require minimal human intervention in the future, the professional accountant who is willing to expand their horizons will be more in demand than ever.”
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AIs in training
To date, there are no commercially available general AIs, that is, ones that can learn to do anything a human can. Rather, today’s AIs must be trained to perform an individual task by analysing historical data related to that function. They also have to be given statistical boundaries so they know whether a given piece of information is relevant to completing the task or not. And they must be configured to recognise when they have reached the desired goal. Once set up, an AI continually executes the task by trial and error in a training environment until it achieves an acceptable rate of success. Only then can it be deployed to a live business environment. If the task is unique and limited data is available, system and data preparation could take several months.

The accountant’s role in financial AI projects
If the provided training data is insufficient or not strictly relevant to the task, or the configuration parameters are inappropriate, an AI may never reach its goal. Worse still, an incorrectly trained AI might complete the task without fail, but with compounding inaccuracies that go unnoticed until it's too late. For financial functions, this scenario gives rise to an opportunity cost, risk to the business and concerns about protecting the public interest. “The correct training of an AI to perform even basic accounting work clearly falls within the professional accountant's purview of developing, implementing and auditing financial systems,” says Ngwenya. “They must therefore be prepared to study and understand at least the rudimentary principles of AI because the accountability for its results falls on them. AIs don’t sign off on internal audits or financial reports.”

A new opportunity for accountants
How AI can be applied to complex business functions and problems is still largely a matter of human ingenuity. Apart from guaranteeing that an AI’s work is accurate, accountants must also ensure that the way the technology is used adds value to a company’s financial processes. Being exposed to the full body of business data and requirements, they are in a prime position to drive business automation in a direction that best serves their customers or employers. Private practitioners may partner with AI specialists to develop useful business solutions or even hire employees with these skills. For example, one company has launched an AI that can rapidly detect embedded leases in contracts, an expensive and labour-intensive requirement of IFRS 16.
Says Ngwenya: “Instead of worrying about AI, professional accountants should pioneer the way forward by offering AI assurance services and innovating the future of automated accounting. This will only enhance their standing as trusted business advisors.”

ENDS
 
MEDIA CONTACT: Stephné du Toit, 084 587 9933, stephne@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za
For more information on SAIPA please visit:
Website: www.saipa.co.za
Twitter: @SAIPAcomms
LinkedIn: South African Institute of Professional Accountants Company
Facebook: South African Institute of Professional Accountants

SOURCES:
● https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180716005195/en/Axiom-Launches-Contracts-Intelligence-Lease-Accounting-Ready